No, validation doesn't matter to MonitorURLs -- it's just looking at standard Web pages to see if they've changed since the last time it looked.

I believe the "https:" (secure HTTP) is what's confusing the plugin. Firefox brings up the https page directly fine, and there is a redirection if you start with "http:" instead (which also fails in the plugin).

Sorry, but it doesn't look like MonitorURLs is a good choice for this particular URL.

If the plugins are unable to retrieve an https:// URL, you could try downloading the feed via a proxy. The plugin will use an http:// URL to access the proxy which will then download the real feed from the https:// address. There are lots of free proxies available on the net so this is definitely worth a try.

ibnewbie wrote:How does one download a feed via a proxy? I did a search on free proxies, but wasn't sure what to do from there?

I had a look at some of the free proxies out there and most of them seem to insert ads into whatever they download which will cause problems for an XML feed.

It's possible to install a proxy on your own computer to handle this issue but something like that is way overkill. The best solution would probably be to drop a few electronic coins in Allan's tip jar to encourage him to update the plugins to handle SSL feeds